


Knowledge Is Strength Cloaked in Shadows

by Morgyn Leri (morgynleri)



Series: Lies, Misdirection, and Terrible Truth [26]
Category: Mythology - Fandom, The Avengers (2012)
Genre: GFY, Other
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-18
Updated: 2012-11-18
Packaged: 2017-11-19 00:00:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/566783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgynleri/pseuds/Morgyn%20Leri
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>He has merely reported that Loki had taken the chance to provide his own version of events, and that Barton wasn't comfortable with the mission, but did not cause any trouble. Does not tell them that Barton is dreaming, that he doubts anyone else could have navigated the maze without a map, that Loki's daughter had spoken of a shift.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Knowledge Is Strength Cloaked in Shadows

He should give Fury a complete report on the trip to Austria, to a house west of Linz, up the Danube; should tell him of what he is certain Barton is still trying to figure out. He should tell him his concerns for the rest of the team after his quiet conversation with Hel, that had merely reinforced a sense of something coming that he could not stop, that he could not change.

A wry smile crosses his face at that thought. Change is what's happening, and he should give SHIELD the chance to understand that this will happen if they wish it or not. Instead, he has merely reported that Loki had taken the chance to provide his own version of events, and that Barton wasn't comfortable with the mission, but did not cause any trouble. Does not tell them that Barton is dreaming, that he doubts anyone else could have navigated the maze without a map, that Loki's daughter had spoken of a shift that took some out of the reach of any of those who guided and ruled the dead.

That information is his alone, save for those who provided it, and he doubts it is the time to tell certain people they're going to find it harder to die. Stark would be entirely too careless with the change that's being wrought, and Banner, Coulson thinks, will likely be appalled that he might have to struggle with the Hulk for an unknown period of time. Romanov - Natasha - might handle it well enough at first, but Coulson doesn't know about long-term consequences, and he holds onto the information for now.

Barton has remained in Austria, and Coulson thinks he might be the first of the heroes to figure out what has been done. The first to figure it out, and the one most likely to truly be angry at just whose attention has granted him such a thing. Even if the reality of it might not be quite the same as the thought of it.

He shakes his head to rid himself of the thought, and turned back to finishing typing the last details he's willing to include on the report. Still hiding what he knows, until the information is needed.

When he's finished, and can leave the report for Fury to read, and retreat to the quiet of his apartment - one that has been moved, despite his own misgivings, to the same tower the Avengers have been granted places. Stark is nothing if not over-the-top in his gestures, generous and dangerously so.

Here, though, he has the chance to think over what he knows, and what he has seen and what he has been told. Barton dreams of what never is told in the myths, but Coulson is certain is real. Stark is obsessed with answers he cannot pry out without patience - and little surprise that he cannot achieve it as yet. Banner spends much of his time as he always has, and has given no sign of noticing anything out of the ordinary.

And Natasha... he will have to see what she has been doing since the gala almost a year ago when Loki had first shown he was back on Earth. He needs all the informaiton he can gather, beyond just the need of SHIELD to know everything there is to be known. This he needs to know so that he can provide the right information to the right people, the right tools.


End file.
